Tom Izzo on Michigan State win over Oakland: 'We need a break'

Tom Izzo and Michigan State beat Oakland 79-70 Saturday to improve to 11-1 on the season prior to the Christmas break. But, the head coach noted a break was much needed after a closer-than-expected game against the Golden Grizzlies. He spoke with Big Ten Network’s Bruce Weber postgame, who reminded Izzo the coach would’ve been fine with a one-point win.

“I think I lied to you first, and you’re one of my best friends, but, you know, we give them credit,” Izzo said. “Boy No. 6 (Michael Houge) played out of his mind, and they made some plays. We were sloppy early. We did some things later, we’ll take the win. We need a break, and it’ll be good for us.”

Despite the sloppiness, Izzo said he was satisfied with this first portion of the season for Michigan State, Heck, when you only lose to Duke, that’s pretty good!

“I really am,” Izzo said. “The problem is, when you get pleased, you sometimes get complacent. So I got to stay on edge. They got to stay on edge. But Oakland played good. Give them credit. They played really well. They made shots and our turnovers, which is starting to bother me, was one of the negatives.”

There were 23 total turnovers in the game, 11 made by Michigan State. While the numbers were pretty much even there, Izzo still wasn’t satisfied. Oakland also shot 42.9% from the floor as a team, while only trailing by three at halftime.

So now is probably a good time for Izzo to enjoy the holidays with family and friends to rest and recover for the next portion of the schedule. The Spartans are back in action on December 29th at home vs. Cornell before pivoting to Big Ten play.

“Yeah, the 24th is made to go get presents. That’s why God invented it,” Izzo said of the break. “But I’m gonna, you know, I’m trying to get a little time off and relax a little bit. The players deserve the same thing.”